communications

Articles

Positive psychology is providing a new focus on effective ways to ensure that teams exhibit the right behaviors in a group or organizational setting. Closely related to many agile and lean concepts, these emerging practices are helping teams to improve communication, collaborate, and emerge as highly effective groups. Leslie Sachs explains what positive psychology is all about and how to start using these practices in your organization.

We all know we need to do retrospectives. And sometimes, it feels as if we go through the motions. Maybe with dialogue sheet retrospectives, we don’t have to. Here, Allan Kelly shares his perspective on dialogue sheet retrospectives.

Mariya Breyter explores the role of a ScrumMaster and whether or not one can work effectively when working remotely. If the ScrumMaster is not available to orchestrate product delivery, bridge any gaps, and remove any obstacles, a product will never be delivered—even worse, a wrong product will be delivered. In order to achieve this understanding, the ScrumMaster must show value to the team as a natural leader, no matter if he is onsite or remote.

Matthias Bohlen shares with us the importance of self organization. As a manager, you must set time or organizational boundaries that serve a purpose and let team members do what they think is appropriate and necessary within those boundaries.

Better Software Magazine Articles

Whether you’re discussing software defects with your test team, analyzing requirements with your BA, or programming in your favorite new language, communication is essential. Lanette Creamer has some tips to help you communicate clearly with any audience.

Agile development employs more oral communication, feedback, and interaction than traditional development. These communication tools can help ease the transition into the more interactive agile team relationship.

We like to believe that the categories we assign to the world are real and the definitions we use draw clear boundaries, but how clear are they really? Brian Marick writes about the vital nature of examples, both in the realm of software development and in the larger picture of life.

Interviews

Steven "Doc" List and Noel Wurst sit down for what starts as a standard interview about communication skills but quickly evolves into a fascinating conversation that reveals a lot about what we're saying—and what we should be saying. You may be surprised at just how much you have to learn.

Steve Adolph explains why the BA's role on an agile project cannot be overvalued, due to their immense communication and collaboration skills. Steve describes the best BAs as "boundary spanners" who know the importance of keeping everyone sitting together, and most importantly—talking.

Did you know that former Dawn Cannan, lover of all things testing, and her husband legally changed their names to Dawn Test Code and Shannon Null Code? In this interview, they discuss the reason for their name changes and what it means to have and show enthusiasm for what is important to you.

In this Sticky ToolLook interview, Microsoft senior program manager Amit Chopra takes a look at some of the common communication breakdowns between QA and development teams and offers suggestions for avoiding or repairing those situations.

There are times in a test manager's career when the work situation becomes surreal. If you've been in situations where you think you must be dreaming, sometimes it helps to look at things from the other person's perspective. As we mature in our jobs, we can examine these situations and see how to better answer the questions we have about unexpected communications. In this session we'll look at some typical conversations and discuss alternative ways to help everyone find the true reality, then better deal with the situation. From her years of experience as a consultant and her personal encounters, Johanna Rothman shares her insights and gets you involved in discovering what's really being said in these strange conversations.

The battle lines are drawn, it seems, between programmers and testers. Do you wonder what makes some programmers so opposed to process control? Why do programmers seem to resent testers? And, more importantly, what can we do to bridge the gap? Learn how to identify different types of developer personalities and development styles and deal with them to your advantage. Susan Joslyn explores ways to inspire quality (recovery) in coding cowboys while minimizing clashes. Discover your own twelve step program to recovery in your relationships with your developers!

One of the most challenging areas of software management is encountered in the first year after an outsourcing contract is signed. Carol Dekkers discusses the actions that can be taken by both implementation teams to ease the transition and to achieve outsourcing success. Learn of the common mistakes made involving personnel, measurement, and expectations, and obtain recommendations to increase the transition to a successful partnership.